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The No. 8 North Carolina volleyball team got off to a hot start in its weekend in Texas, sweeping Sam Houston State on Friday (25-21, 25-18, 25-13).

What happened?

The Tar Heels (7-1) began the first set exchanging points with the Bearcats (6-7) in a different lineup than usual, with first-year Julia Scoles and redshirt first-year Sydnye Fields absent from the starting lineup. First-year Taylor Borup and junior Beth Nordhorn took their place in the lineup. Nordhorn contributed on two blocks in a four point run for UNC accented by two Sam Houston attack errors to take a 11-7 lead.

The Bearcats would pull within two later in the set, but kills by reshirt junior Taylor Fricano, senior Tatiana Durr and reshirt sophomore Taylor Leath led UNC to take a 19-14 lead and allowed North Carolina to cruise to win the set.

After giving up the first two points in the set, UNC scored 10 unanswered points to race out to a 10-2 in second set thanks to some timely blocking and five Sam Houston attack errors. The Tar Heels’ lead would grow to 21-8 at it’s peak. But then the Bearcats had a streak of their own, roaring off nine straight points to make the score 21-17. A Nordhorn kills stopped the bleeding for UNC, who earned three straight points off of Sam Houston attack errors to put the set out of reach and go up 2-0.

Editors Picks

UNC dominated an overmatched Bearcat squad out of the break, never trailing in the third set that ended on a Sam Houston service error to end the set 25-13.

Who stood out?

Nordhorn set career highs with nine kills and seven blocks in her first start of the season. She only had two attack errors and hit .500 on the day.

Senior co-captain Abigail Curry showed out on her birthday, earning a double-double with 22 assists and 11 digs. She also hit 1.000 with two kills.

Coming off of a career-high 17 kills against Minnesota last Saturday, Borup made the most of her first career start, picking up six kills, two service aces, four blocks and six digs in a well rounded effort.

When was it decided?

UNC forced a Sam Houston timeout after racing out to a 7-2 lead to open up the third set, powered by four kills by redshirt senior Hayley McCorkle. That hot start set the tone for a bloodbath of a third set, with UNC consistently going on runs of at least three straight point to build a huge lead and put away the Bearcats.

Why does it matter?

Coming off a 3-1 loss to then No. 5 Minnesota on Saturday, UNC needed to pick up an easy win against lesser competition to get some mojo back after getting destroyed in the first two sets against the Golden Gophers.

Coach Joe Sagula rotated in some players who had not gotten a starting opportunity or a ton of playing time this far into the season, even leaving two of his normal starters (Scoles and Fields) on the bench the entire game. The results were good for UNC, with the Tar Heels earning a dominating win at a neutral site game and allowing their deep roster to shine when given the opportunity.

Where do they play next?

UNC takes on SMU Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas at 1 p.m. The Tar Heels will also take on TCU for the second time this season at 5 p.m. the same day.